Mick West

Mick West is a former video-game developer and author who became known for open-source analysis of unusual videos, conspiracy claims and UAP imagery. Through Metabunk and later interactive tools such as Sitrec, he has reconstructed viewing geometry, camera motion, parallax and sensor effects in several high-profile military cases.

He belongs in The Humans not as an “opponent” of UAP, but as a participant whose work tests whether apparently extraordinary observations can arise from ordinary objects, incomplete metadata or sensor geometry.

West has analysed videos including Gimbal, GoFast, FLIR1 and various civilian recordings. His method generally begins with what can be inferred from the image itself, known camera systems and possible flight geometry before invoking extraordinary explanations.

That work has had real influence on public and institutional debate, particularly around apparent speed and rotational effects.

• Software / visualisation backgroundDocumented

  Relevant to building reconstruction tools but not equivalent to formal aerospace engineering credentials.

• Opensource case-analysis experience — Extensive

  West has spent years reproducing visual effects and flight geometry.

• Access limitationSignificant

  Much of his analysis relies on the same incomplete public clips available to everyone else; missing raw sensor data can constrain both skeptical and extraordinary interpretations.

• GoFast's apparent extreme speed can be explained by parallax and range geometry
  Technical analysis · Substantially supported as a plausible interpretation

  West argued that the GoFast object's apparent rapid motion could result from the observing aircraft's motion and a relatively slow object at lower altitude. Later public NASA/AARO analysis likewise stressed geometry and parallax in interpreting such footage.

  Critical notes

  • The public clip does not provide every variable needed for a perfect reconstruction. The analysis substantially weakens claims that the video alone proves extreme speed, but it does not identify the object with certainty.
• Gimbal rotation may be an optical/sensor effect rather than craft rotation
  Technical hypothesis · Plausible / disputed

  West has argued that glare and the rotating optical system can account for much of the apparent rotation.

  Critical notes

  • This addresses one feature of the video, not the entire wider incident or every pilot/radar report associated with the period. Explaining an image artefact should not be presented as explaining unrelated evidence streams automatically.
• Many UAP cases become less extraordinary when geometry is reconstructed
  Methodological position · Supported in some cases, not universal

  West's strongest contribution is demonstrating how intuitive speed, size and motion judgements can fail without range data.

• Metabunk
• NASA, UAP Independent Study Team Report, 2023
• AARO case-resolution material should be compared with West's analyses where the same incident is addressed.